FISHERMAN'S NET PUBLICATIONS CATALOG 5a

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        |     |   |        THE KEYSTONE COMMANDMENT      |   |     |
        |     |   |            By Kyle D. Pratt          |   |     |
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             Is there any Christian who would worship another god,
        or a graven image?  Is there a Christian who would not call
        theft or adultery sin?  Why are these acts sins?  Because
        the ten commandments, the only words of the Bible literally
        written by the hand of God,  forbids them.  So then, why do
        Christians feel they must obey all of the ten commandments
        except the fourth?  The fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11,
        Deuteronomy 5:12-15), is sometimes called the keystone
        commandment, because it unites the two parts of the ten
        commandments.  The first three commandments concern man's
        relationship with God, the last six concern our relationship
        with each other.  The fourth commandment bridges these two
        parts.  This commandment speaks of our duty to God,
        "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy" and that this
        day is a Sabbath to the Lord.  But this, the longest of
        the ten commandments, continues on to tell us that we are
        not to do any work on this day.  Not only are we not to work
        but our sons, our daughters, our employees, and even the
        foreigner staying with us, are not to work on this day.  Not
        even the animals we own are to work on this day.  The only
        day given a name in all of scripture is the sabbath.
             The Sabbath was established in the very first book of
        the Bible, Genesis.  In chapter two, verse three we read,  "And
        God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in
        it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
        So from this verse we see that this day is special for three
        reasons.  Only on this day does God ever say that He rested
        and He commands us, in the fourth commandment, to follow His
        example.  It is also the only day that God has ever blessed.  
        The third reason the day is special is that God sanctified it. 
        This means that God set the day aside for holy use.  The place
        where a church service is held is called a sanctuary for that
        very reason, it is set aside for a holy purpose.  From this time
        on, throughout the Bible, both the old and the new testaments
        the day is called the Sabbath of the Lord, never is it called a
        Jewish or Hebrew sabbath.  In Exodus 31:12-17 the Lord stated,
        "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me
        and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am
        the Lord that doth sanctify you.  Centuries later Christ
        observed the sabbath (Luke 4:16) and is called the "Lord of the
        sabbath." (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28)  Christ taught how the
        sabbath should be observed.  (Matthew 12:1-13, Luke 13:10-17)
        Paul also observed the sabbath. (Acts  13:13-14, 17:1-2,18:4)
        
             The First Day of the Week
        
             The day of the week we call Sunday has no name in all
        the Bible, it is merely called the first day, only the seventh
        day has a name, the Sabbath.  A basic rule of Bible
        interpretation
        is, if an idea, event or theme is repeated, the author is showing
        the that it is particularly significant.  The first day is only
        mentioned once in the old testament, during creation in Genesis
        1:3-5, when God creates light, but the Sabbath is spoken of
        seventy seven times.  In the new testament the first day is
        mentioned eight times, and we will cover each of these times, and
        the Sabbath is referred to sixty times.  
             If the Lord had intended to transfer the blessing and
        sanctification of the Sabbath to the first day it would be
        reasonable to expect to find it in one of the eight
        references to the first day in the new testament but we find that
        Christ never mentions Sunday or the first day, as it was still
        called at this time.
             Five references in the New Testament, (Matthew 28:1,
        Mark 16:2, 9, Luke 24:1, John 20:1) refer to the same event,
        the discovery of the empty tomb.  While this was a monumental
        event for the infant Christian faith the fact remains God blessed
        the Sabbath and commanded us to remember it to keep it holy.  If
        Christ had wished us to transfer the holiness of the Sabbath to
        Sunday he would have said so.  But he did not.  Christ, our
        example, kept the sabbath all his life and so did the Apostles. 
        (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, 9, Luke 24:1, John 20:1, 19, Acts 20:7
        and 1 Corinthians 16:2)  
             The sixth reference in the new testament occurs later that
        same day.  In John 20:19 we read that the disciples are assembled
        together in fear of mobs of Jews.  Note that this is not for
        worship, it is because of fear they are huddled together.
             The seventh reference, in Acts 20:7, refers to a
        meeting that began on Saturday evening and extended until
        midnight.  We know this because the Jews started their days at
        sundown.  The first twelve hours of a day is at night and the
        next twelve hours in daylight.  This is why in Genesis we read,
        "And the evening and the morning were the first day", and so on.
        Sundown on Saturday is, for the Jews, the start of Sunday.
        While the meeting referred to in Acts 20:7 is certainly a
        Christian gathering it appears to have been held because
        Paul planned to depart the next day, on Sunday during the
        daylight hours.  The reference to the breaking of bread may 
        refer to the Lord Supper, a meal or the Lord's Supper as part 
        of a meal.  (See Acts 2:46)  All these forms are still done 
        today at Christian gatherings on any day of the week.  This 
        text neither mandates or even implies that Christians
        should forsake the Sabbath.  Luke who wrote both the Gospel of
        Luke and the book of Acts was a gentile writing to a gentile,
        Theophilus, some thirty years after the resurrection and he 
        never mentions a change in worship from the Sabbath to the 
        first day of the week.  
             The eighth, and last, reference to a first day or, as we
        call it, Sunday is 1 Corinthians 16:2. This is an instruction
        from Paul that Christians should set aside some of their money
        for God's work on each first day of the week so that when he
        arrives they will not have to collect an offering all at once. 
        In any event this is hardly a mandate for change and is
        completely understandable if examined in light of the culture
        that Paul was addressing.  Even today orthodox Jewish Synagogues
        do not take up a collection on the Sabbath in part because they
        consider it unlawful, under the fourth commandment, to carry
        anything outside of the home or synagogue.  Therefore money can
        not be brought anywhere on the Sabbath.  Paul, addressing a mix
        community of Jews and Gentiles, was merely acknowledging that
        fact and, in order to avoid any misunderstanding, told them to
        take up their collect on a neutral day, Sunday.
        
             The Lord's day
        
             In Revelation 1:10 John said that he was in the spirit on
        the Lord's day.  Some claim this is a reference to Sunday.  John
        though was Jewish and he was writing to the Christian Church
        that was still largely Jewish.  This early church still observed
        the Sabbath and had only what we now call the Old Testament for
        scripture.  In Exodus 20:10, the Ten Commandments, God wrote
        in stone with his own finger that the seventh day is a sabbath
        of the Lord.  This is stated again in Leviticus 23:3.   When
        John wrote "Lord's day" his readers of the first century church
        would have only thought of the sabbath.  Remember, in Mark
        2:27-28 Christ is called the Lord of the Sabbath.
        
             As was His Custom
        
             In scripture there are two recorded customs of Christ,
        teaching the people (Mark 10:1 in any modern translation)
        and keeping the Sabbath.  (Luke 4:16)  Although Jesus was
        constantly challenged on the issue of the Sabbath He never said,
        or even implied, that the Sabbath, or any of the Ten Commandments
        was, or ever would be, abolished.  Christ stated clearly in
        Matthew 5:18 that, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
        tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
        fulfilled".  Christ, our example, kept all Ten Commandments all
        of his life.
             Some Christians claim that in Matthew 12:1-13 and the
        corresponding account in Luke 13:10-17 Christ is saying you
        can ignore the Sabbath.  Let's look at the Matthew account.
        
              12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day
              through the corn; and his disciples were an 
              hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and 
              to eat.
              2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him,
              Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to 
              do upon the sabbath day.
              3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David
              did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with
              him;
              4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat
              the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat,
              neither for them which were with him, but only for the
              priests?
              5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the
              sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the
              sabbath, and are blameless?
              6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater
              than the temple.
              7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have
              mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned
              the guiltless.
              8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
              9  And when he was departed thence, he went into their
              synagogue:
              10  And, behold, there was a man which had his hand
              withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to
              heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
              11  And he said unto them, What man shall there be
              among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall
              into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold
              on it, and lift it out?
              12  How much then is a man better than a sheep?
              Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
              13  Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand.
              And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole,
              like as the other.
        
             The Pharisees, who must have been watching Christ
        looking for a chance to discredit him, said that the act of
        picking grain was harvesting and therefore work.   But Christ
        replies if you are hungry on the Sabbath it is right to eat the
        food that is available and reminds the Pharisees of King David
        when he eat the bread reserved  for the Priests. (1 Samuel
        21:1-6)  Also it is lawful, Christ points out, to do God's work
        on the Sabbath as the priests did.  If the priests were guiltless
        when they worked on the Sabbath could those who work for the Son
        of God be guilty? (Numbers 28:9,10)  Finally, Christ asks us if
        we would help an animal of ours that was in distress on the
        Sabbath.  If we would then could it be wrong to help another
        person on the Sabbath?  Is it wrong to do good on the Sabbath? 
        Of course not!  Christ has in these verses cleared away much of
        the human clutter that had built up around the fourth commandment
        and shows us, His followers, how we should observe His Sabbath.
             After His death on the cross His body is taken to the
        tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea.  Mary and others began to
        prepare the body for burial but "on the Sabbath they rested
        according to the commandment." (Luke 23:54,55, Mark 15:46-16:1) 
        Christ's own mother, Mary, believed in the Sabbath to such a
        degree that she would not prepare her son's body for burial until
        it was over.  Christ never even told His own mother that it was
        no longer necessary to observe the Sabbath.
             In Matthew 24:20 Christ says to pray that the destruction 
        of Jerusalem during the tribulation before His return does not
        fall on the Sabbath.  Modern, Sunday keeping, theologians say
        that Christ is speaking to Jews in this passage.  Why would Jews
        pray about a prophecy by Christ, who they do not believe in,
        written in a book they generally do not read and do not believe
        is inspired by God?
        
        
             The Day Changes
        
             If there is no Biblical authority for changing the day
        of the Sabbath and if neither Christ or the Apostles changed the
        Sabbath to Sunday, who did?
             In the year 66 the last Roman Procurator of Judea stole
        vast quantities of silver from the Temple in Jerusalem.  The Jews
        of Jerusalem revolted and destroyed the Roman garrison in the
        city.  The Roman Governor of Syria sent in a large force to
        restore order but these troops  were also routed.  These two 
        victories convinced the Jews they could cast off the Roman
        occupation and regain their freedom.  Thus began the Jewish
        revolt of 66-70 A.D. which led to one of the great catastrophes
        in Jewish history.  Rome sent General Vespasian and his legion to
        restore order.  Vespasian did so in a brutal, methodical way.  In
        68 A.D. he destroyed the Qumran community but not before they hid
        their scrolls in the caves by the Dead Sea.  In 70 A.D. the last
        major stronghold of the Jews in Jerusalem was destroyed along
        with the second temple, except for the Western wall or, as it is
        sometimes called, the Wailing wall.  In 73 A.D. the last remanent
        of free Jews were holding out at the mountain top fortress of
        Masada.  These defenders committed mass suicide rather than
        surrender to Rome.  The Romans then imposed a war reparations
        tax on all Jews.  No one knows how many Jews were raped,
        tortured or sold into slavery, but it has been estimated, that as
        many as one million died in the revolt.  Christians were still
        identified as a sect of the Jewish faith at this time.  No one
        will ever know how many Christians living in Judea and Galilee
        suffered and died with their Jewish neighbors.
             The Jews of Judea were blooded but not destroyed.   In
        132 A.D. Bar-Kokhba lead a revolt against the Romans.  Again the
        Jews were encouraged by early  victories but the Romans came back
        at them with a   vengeance.  Roman General Severus and his legion
        began the systematic destruction of Jews fortresses and walled
        cities.  When he was done 50 percent of the population of Judea
        was dead and tens of thousands of men and women who remained
        alive were sold into slavery.   Jews were forbidden to set foot
        in Jerusalem and the provence was renamed Palestine.  Foreigner
        were brought in, replacing the rebellious Jews.  It was a dark
        and dangerous time to be identified with the Jews.  During this
        period the predominate day of worship among Christians gradually
        began to change from the Sabbath to Sunday.  The day changed, in
        part, because of the need to disassociate the Christian  movement
        from the rebellious Jewish nation.  Sunday, the day the empty
        tomb was discovered and already a pagan day of worship, was an
        easy choice.
                  When the Roman Emperor Constintine legalized the
        Christian church in 313 A.D. the tradition of Sunday worship was
        already well established.
        
             Conclusion
        
             Even after the writings of the Apostles became  what we  now
        call the New Testament there was no reference to Sunday or the
        first day as the Lord's day or as a Sabbath.  The current popular
        notion that Christ and His apostles changed the Sabbath from
        Saturday to Sunday is absolutely without any authority in
        scripture.  You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation but
        you will not find even one verse authorizing the sanctification
        of Sunday as a Christian Sabbath.  But there was and is a
        commandment, the keystone commandment, observed by Christ, His
        Apostles and the early church, that calls upon all of us to keep
        holy the Sabbath day of Friday night through Saturday night.
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        Copyright (c) 1996, Kyle D. Pratt
        Permission is granted for FREE distribution as long as the
        article remains unaltered and intact.
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